Sedgwick County had the most new COVID-19 cases of any Kansas county over the weekend

Sedgwick County had the most new cases of COVID-19 of any Kansas county over the weekend, coronavirus pandemic data shows.

The Kansas Department of Health and Environment’s reports on coronavirus and COVID-19 for Monday showed 188 new cases in the county since its last report, on Friday.

The state reported that Sedgwick County now has had a total of 1,260 cases. The weekend increase was about 17.5%.

The Kansas total is now 14,443 cases. The jump of 905 cases was a statewide increase of 6.7%. The state also reported six more deaths and 24 new hospitalizations.

The Sedgwick County Health Department reported 1,161 total cases on Monday, up 41 from Sunday’s report. There were no new deaths and seven more recoveries, so the number of active cases increased by 34. There are now 484 known active cases of COVID-19 in the county.

Discrepancies between state and local data can be due to delays in reporting between the two public health agencies, officials have said.

The county’s epidemiologists have not determined the source of exposure for any of the 41 new cases, according to the health department’s COVID-19 dashboard.

The KDHE’s reopening metrics show the daily case rate, which is an indicator of disease spread, is increasing in Kansas and in Sedgwick County.

County increase comparisons

Sedgwick County, at 188 new cases, had the most new cases of any county over the weekend. It also had the second-biggest percentage increase among the 13 counties with at least 100 cases, according to calculations based on KDHE statistics.

• Wyandotte County has 2,293 cases, which is an increase of 185, or about 8.8%.
• Ford County has 2,006 cases, which is an increase of 23, or about 1.2%.
• Johnson County has 1,722 cases, which is an increase of 177, or about 11.5%.
• Finney County has 1,540 cases, which is an increase of four, or about 0.3%.
• Sedgwick County has 1,260 cases, which is an increase of 188, or about 17.5%.
• Leavenworth County has 1,162 cases, which is an increase of 16, or about 1.4%.
• Seward County has 971 cases, which is an increase of 15, or about 1.6%.
• Shawnee County has 630 cases, which is an increase of 63, or about 11.1%.
• Lyon County has 489 cases, which is an increase of five, or about 1%.
• Crawford County has 256 cases, which is an increase of 10, or about 4%.
• Riley County has 205 cases, which is an increase of 27, or about 15.2%.
• Douglas County has 156 cases, which is an increase of 35, or about 29%.
• Jackson County has 109 cases, which is an increase of two, or about 1.9%.

In the Wichita area, Harvey County had the largest percent change over the weekend.

• Sedgwick County has 1,260 cases, which is an increase of 188, or about 17.5%.
• Reno County has 74 cases, which is an increase of five, or about 7.2%.
• Cowley County has 70 cases, which is an increase of four, or about 6.1%
• Butler County has 58 cases, which is an increase of four, or about 7.4%.
• Harvey County has 39 cases, which is an increase of eight, or about 25.8%.
• Sumner County has 11 cases, which is no change.
• Kingman County has zero cases.

Kingman County to the west of Wichita is one of eight counties in Kansas without a case. There are 105 counties in the state. The number of counties with at least one case increased by two.

Deaths and hospitalizations

There have been 270 deaths in Kansas, which was an increase of six, the KDHE reports.

The youngest person to die with COVID-19 as the cause or a significant contributor of death was 29 years old. The oldest was 99 and the median age of deceased patients is 79.

Patients aged 85 and older account for the most deaths. The 99 deaths in that group account for about 37% of the state’s total.

The death rate per population for Black Kansans is more than triple the rate for any other race.

There have been 1,152 hospitalizations, which is an increase of 24. Intensive care units have admitted 360 patients and 152 have required mechanical ventilation. Hospitals have discharged 794 patients, though the KDHE says some patients may have been discharged without it being reported to the state.

Every age group has had at least one COVID-19 patient who has required hospitalization, though only a little over 10% of all hospitalized patients were under the age of 35. Just under 1% of all hospitalizations were patients younger than 18. About 41% of hospitalized patients were 65 or older.

The state also reports the percentage of COVID-19 patients in each age group that required hospitalization. The number is highest among older people.

About 41% of patients 85 or older have been hospitalized. The number is about 46% for patients aged 75-84 and about 38% for those aged 65-74.

While less than 1% of patients aged 10-17 have needed to be hospitalized, about 4% of infant to 9-year-old patients have been hospitalized.

The percentage of cases that required hospitalization for other age groups are about 2% for ages 18-24, about 4% for ages 25-34, about 8% for ages 35-44, about 11% for ages 45-54 and about 18% for ages 55-64.

In Sedgwick County, there have been 118 hospitalizations, according to KDHE data. There have been 34 patients admitted into intensive care and eight have required mechanical ventilation. There have been 66 discharges.

No one under the age of 18 has been hospitalized in Sedgwick County, the state’s data shows. For the other age groups, the percentage of cases that required hospitalization was as low as 1% for ages 18-24 and as high as about 68% for ages 85 and older.

The Sedgwick County Health Department reports more hospitalizations than the state. There are 130 hospitalizations and 111 discharges, according to the county. Last week, there was one new hospitalization and one new discharge reported.

The difference between hospitalizations and discharges is 19, which is a decrease of five from a week ago. Numbers for previous weeks were revised after they were reported, though the county’s dashboard says there is a week delay in reporting to ensure accurate data.

The county’s dashboard states that the area hospital status assessment is “good” with a green check mark, but the number of current hospitalizations and the number of available hospital beds are not reported.

The KDHE’s reopening metrics show the number of new hospitalizations per day has been trending up from less than eight to more than nine per day. The trend period is June 10-24.

The same KDHE trend line more than doubled in Sedgwick County. It went from a little more than one per day to above three per day in that same time period.

Coronavirus clusters

Four new clusters of coronavirus were identified over the weekend, bringing the state’s total to 210. There are 101 active clusters, according to the KDHE report.

Clusters account for 121 of the new cases and two of the new deaths over the weekend.

There have been 6,406 cases and 201 deaths attributed to the outbreaks, which are about 44% of all cases and about 74% of all deaths in Kansas.

It is not clear which categories the new clusters fall under because some categories saw decreases as some of their outbreaks were added to other categories.

There was an increase of one in the sporting event category, an increase of one in the group living category and an increase of eight in the gathering category. Private business and long-term care facility categories each had a reduction of three clusters.

Outbreaks at long-term care facilities are responsible for more than half of the people who have died from COVID-19 in the state. The 48 nursing home clusters account for 947 cases and 155 deaths.

Meatpacking plants account for about 22% of all cases in the state. The 12 outbreaks are responsible for 3,160 cases and 16 deaths.

There are more outbreaks in private industry than any other category. The 90 clusters account for 764 cases and six deaths.

Correctional facilities account for four clusters, 1,027 cases and seven deaths. Four outbreaks at daycares or schools have had 16 cases. There have been 30 clusters at gatherings, which includes religious and other gatherings, accounting for 311 cases and 14 deaths. Group living situations account for nine clusters with 85 cases and three deaths. Health care facilities have had 10 outbreaks with 74 cases. Three sporting event clusters have had 22 cases.

Sedgwick County health officials did not report any new clusters on Monday, keeping the total at 14. Six of the clusters have closed.

There have been local outbreaks at five nursing homes, five businesses, three religious institutions and one correctional facility. The clusters account for 25 of the county’s 28 deaths.

Testing

Of the 13 counties with at least 100 cases, Sedgwick County has the second-lowest testing rate, KDHE data shows. The 25,668 tests in the county produces a testing rate of 49.7 people per 1,000 population.

Ford County has the highest testing percentage at 191.9 per 1,000, which is more than three and a half times the population testing rate in Sedgwick County. The statewide testing rate is 60.53 per 1,000.

Statewide, there have been 162,282 negative tests, which is an increase of 7,961 over the weekend.

The Sedgwick County Health Department reports 28,722 people have been tested, which is an increase of 421 from Sunday. There was no update on the percentage of tests that come back positive, which had quadrupled in the last month before experiencing a slight decrease two days ago.

As of Saturday, the county’s rolling 14-day average percent of tests that were positive was 4.5%.